1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for load shedding.
2. Description of Related Art
From time to time, electric grid demand exceeds supply capabilities of an electric utility. When confronted with such a situation, electric utilities may allow system voltage to decline—a brownout—or shed loads—a blackout. If the amount required to be produced for a brownout exceeds the electric utility's reserve capacity, the excess demand is greater than what could be tolerated by implementing a brownout and load shedding must occur. Present methods of selecting portions of the electric grid to blackout ignore actual present power consumption by their electricity consumers. In fact, until recently granular knowledge of power consumption by electricity consumers was not possible. Today, however, distributed renewable generation systems, such as micro-hydroelectric, photovoltaic, and wind turbine systems, often implement machinery capable of data communications with the electric utility.